The New Nation - Internet Edition

BTCL to apply for WiMAX

Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Limited (BTCL) will apply to the BTRC for licence to operate WiMAX /Broadband Wireless Access, a senior government official said. Telecommunications secretary Iqbal Mahmood told reporters that BTCL would have to pay Tk 215 crore to the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission for the licence. Bangla Lion Communications, BRAC BDMail Network and Aguri Wireless won WiMAX licence through a bidding. Each of them has to pay the telecoms regulator Tk 215 crore. The three private firms will be allowed to operate WiMAX or Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access service with 2.3 and 2.5 gigahertz spectrum. According to the terms and conditions for the licence, each firm will have to set up 90 base stations across the country. The launching of WiMAX service is aimed at bringing the entire country under the service.

Time to reform the IMF?

BBC, London

The global financial crisis has cast fresh doubt on the International Monetary Fund's effectiveness in monitoring the world economy.

Charged with overseeing the global financial system and the economic policies of its 185 members, the IMF is supposed to act as an early warning system for markets.

But its failure to correctly diagnose the world's financial health this time around has sparked criticism that, not only is it not up to the task, but it treats rich and poor nations differently.

As delegates flock to its annual meetings in Washington this weekend, its critics say the time is right for reform.

'Flip-flopping'

Critics don't have to look far to find evidence of the IMF's 'flip-flops' on the economy.

In April 2007, it gave an upbeat assessment for the world economy and when the sub-prime crisis first hit headlines in August, it said that the credit risk was "manageable".

But by April 2008, the IMF was predicting a massive $1 trillion (£579bn) in losses from the sub-prime crisis.

It then decided to raise its world growth forecast in July. Its latest financial stability report released this week warned of a "severe downturn".

The IMF has also not been involved in what co-ordinated action has taken place to calm rocky financial markets.

"On the current issuestthe IMF could hardly be described as being at the centre of discussions," says Mike Mussa, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington and a former IMF chief economist.

Caught unawares

In its defence - and as the IMF itself has said - the IMF is not alone in being taken by surprise by the depth of the crisis, Mr Mussa said.

The Bank for International Settlements, which groups the world's central banks, and the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development did not fully realise the gravity of the situation either.

"The explosion of the crisis, particularly in the past few weeks, is something that was not anticipated by anyone in official circles," Mr Mussa says.

IMF members also discuss reports prior to publication, a fact which may delay publication and date the analysis.

Double standards?

The crisis has also reignited criticism that the IMF treats rich and poor countries differently.

During the Asian financial crisis in 1997 and 1998, the IMF opposed moves by Asian governments to use taxpayers' money to bail out ailing financial institutions.

In Indonesia and South Korea, this led to bankruptcies and widespread job losses and this, along with the onerous conditions attached to its loans, damaged the IMF's credibility in the region.

By contrast, IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn gave his approval to the US $700bn bank bail-out package even before US Congress had amended and approved the deal.

"There's definitely some truth and validity in these chargestof different standards," says Peter Chowla, policy officer at the Bretton Woods Project, an NGO that monitors the IMF and the World Bank. s

"But it's also true that this crisis is different because we are talking about financial institutions whose activities span the globe."

"Korean and Indonesian financial institutions were not quite as systemically important."

There have been efforts to give greater representation to emerging economies. But the fact that the US and Europe are the IMF's biggest shareholders has made emerging giants like China distrustful of the organisation.

Box of tricks

In theory, the IMF should be at the forefront of the discussions on ways to handle the financial crisis, says Ngaire Woods, director of Oxford University's Programme for Global Economic Governance

It is one of the few global institutions that groups developed countries with powerful emerging economies in the Middle East and Asia.

These countries are sitting on large stockpiles of dollar reserves and their dollars could keep "world economy afloat", she says.

"The US is finding that there is not enough tools in the tool box to address the crisis and the IMF might have been part of that tool box if it had been reformed following the Asian financial crisis," Ms Woods says.

Headed for reform?

The IMF has faced criticism and calls for reform before, not least at the time of the Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Chancellor Alistair Darling have long called for the IMF to be restructured and strengthened to enable it to fulfil its role as an early warning system for financial stability.

Ms Woods is hopeful that the crisis engulfing the world economy will act as catalyst for this reform - but this comes with a heavy dose of caution.

"You need instant, quite dramatic governance reform - and maybe that's where the crisis will take us sooner or later."

Southeast Bank opens 42nd branch at Bogra

Southeast Bank Limited expanded its network further by opening its 42nd Branch at the commercial hub of Bogra town on October 08, 2008. Duluma Ahmed, Director of the Bank formally inaugurated the Branch.

In the inaugural function, among others, Azim Uddin Ahmed, Former Chairman and existing Director, Syed Shahid Ali, Director, Neaz Ahmed, Managing Director, Bank's senior executives, local elites, businessmen, industrialists, Govt. officials, educationists and professionals were present.

In his speech, Azim Uddin Ahmed traced the history of the establishment of the Bank in 1995 and its ramification over the years as a modern banking institution of Bangladesh.

He apprised his audience that alike other Branches of Southeast Bank, its Bogra Branch would provide quality customer service with the help of latest technology at a very competitive price.

In his address of welcome, Neaz Ahmed, Managing Director highlighted the Bank's overall performance over the last 4 years and urged the local people to avail modern banking facilities from the Branch.

Prof. Hosneara Begum, Executive Director of Thengamara Mohila sabuj Sangha, Alhaj Fazlur Rahman Paiker, President of Bogra Chamber and other local elites spoke in the function wishing operational success of the Branch and assuring their cooperation to that direction. Md. Zakir Hossain, Head of the Branch offered vote of thanks in the function.

The inaugural program ended off with a dua-mahfil at the Branch premises seeking divine blessing for the well-being of the Bank.

Analysts say markets stuck between fear and panic

AFP, Paris

Emerging from the wreckage of an historically bad week of trading, dealers from Tokyo to London and New York say the financial turmoil has left markets in an irrational state of fear.

Some dealers buried their faces in their hands, unable to watch as index indicators steadily fell yesterday morning in scenes that were replayed around the world as each market opened.

Tokyo's Nikkei index crashed 24.33 percent over the week for its worst five days of trading in its 50 years of existence. The

Dow Jones fell eight straight days, for its worst week. London had its worst trading week since the 1987 crash. "I have never seen anything like this and I hope I never go through anything like this again," said Valerie Plagnol, director of strategy for Credit-Mutuel- CIC in Paris, commenting on the clash of the stock fall and the credit freeze.

"It's been a long week in the history of the financial markets," said Joshua Raymond a strategist for City Index in London. "What is happening now is not just history repeating. If you map out every single event along the way, we are setting a whole new precedent."

A 700 billion dollar US bailout, an 800 billion dollar

British package, coordinated interest rate cut by seven central banks -- nothing seems to work. Investors have been massively scared off.

"The markets have shown that it is naive to assume that the UK banking bail-out and rate cuts this week would turn the market instantaneously; confidence takes months to build and hours to shatter," added Raymond. "It's blood bath," said Hiten Agarwal of Bombay brokers Angel Broking.The damage extended to commodities markets -- just as it is quickly spreading through the whole economy. "Markets are very much trading on fear, which has overwhelmed fundamentals," said Nimit Khamar at Sucden traders in London, talking about the oil market where prices have now fallen below 80 dollars a barrel.

Swiss bank Wegelin the intervention of governments and central banks had the opposite effect. "Uncertainty and panic have been increased." "People just don't have the confidence to put their money

back into the market yet," said James Foulsham, head of trading at CMC Markets in Sydney. "We are going to need some stability first before we start seeing retail and even institutional clients come back in." So what is ahead? There is talk of a summit of global

leaders which could take new measures.

Justin Urquhart-Stewart, an analyst for Seven Investment

Management said the action already taken by governments this week to ease the financial crisis and spur critical credit flows had to succeed.

"There is no Plan B," warned Urquhart-Stewart who has called the crisis a "perfect storm" with a banking system in crisis and a critically slowing global economy.

There is doubt however.

"After this week's internationally coordinated cut in rates we do not think that there will be any other major measures announced, but we cannot be completely sure!" added Philip Shaw of Investec.

Nearly all dealers insist that the end of the crisis will only come with the end of the freeze on credit lending. And right now, said Matt Buckland, a trader with CMC Markets, that is not in sight, despite the massive efforts of central banks.

IT export to reach $150m by 2011: BASIS SoftExpo 2009 to bring momentum to IT export and economy of the country

Business Reporter

IT export of the country is likely to reach US $150 million by 2011 according to the Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS).

Addressing at a press conference about upcoming BASIS SoftExpo 2009 Habibullah N Karim, President of BASIS yesterday said this.

The five days SoftExpo will be held at Bangladesh China Friendship Conference Centre from January 27 of 2009. TeleConsult Group is the consultant partner of the event.

Mentioning present IT market dim, he said BASIS SoftExpo 2009, which is recognised as an international event, would bring momentum to IT export and economy of the country as well.

President of BASIS hoped that the 6th Software exposition would help create a global platform showcasing the immense potentials, resources and skills available in Bangladesh.

Quoting a report of International Trade Centre Habibullah said Bangladesh would be able to increase IT export to $150 million by 2011.

BASIS with its 40 members leaves country today for USA to participate at OutsourceWorld-New York, which is the premier pure play business trade platform focused on executives who have a need to outsource business services.

He opined that this trade platform would give Bangladesh opportunity to show up its potentiality in Global IT market.

Following the success of the event in the recent years BASIS SoftExpo has earned the reputation of the biggest ICT event in the country. The exposition creates a platform of interaction between different groups including Software providers, buyers, IT users, professionals, media policy majors, development partners, students as well as a wide range of people across the society.

Organisers hoped that participants from abroad would take part in the expo and more than two hundred organizations would participate in it. Delegates from Japan, Denmark, United Kingdom and United States of America will also visit in this expo.

Among others, MA Mubin Khan, Director, Shameem Ahsan, Vice President, Nahid Ahmed, Secretary General of BASIS, Rafiqul Islam Rowly, Chairman of National Event Committee and Naila Choudhury, Chairman and CEO of TeleConsult Group, Nasim Ali Khan, Managing Partner of TeleConsult Group were present at the conference.

Garment exports likely to fetch $25b in 5 years

BUSINESS REPORT

Country's leading garment-making group has said that exports would more than double to around 25 billion dollars over the next five years, as buyers turn away from rising labour costs in China.

Garment exports rose by nearly 17 percent to a record 10.7 billion dollars in the financial year to June 2008, and in July alone rose a year-on-year 75 percent, according to figures from the government's Export Promotion Bureau.

"In the 2008-09 financial year, our exports will hit 13 billion dollars," said Anwar ul Alam Chowdhury Parvez, President of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA). "Most of the bigger factories have expanded due to increased orders from buyers such as Wal-Mart. We've now targeted 25 billion dollars in 2013," Parvez said.

Experts said the country's abundant cheap labour and stagnant growth in Chinese apparel due to higher wages had helped make Bangladesh more attractive to the world's top buyers.

"China is still the dominant player in the global apparel market. But they are no longer competitive," said Syed Fakhrul Islam Murad, head of the textile department at private Southeast University.

"Bangladesh's wages in garment factories are now at least one-third of China. No one can produce cheaper than us. If the power problem is fixed, the growth would be unlimited," he said.

The garment trade is the backbone of Bangladesh's manufacturing industry, accounting for 80 percent of total exports and 40 percent of industrial jobs. A garment worker in Bangladesh earns a minimum 25 dollars a month basic salary after a deal struck in late 2006. Some 40 percent of Bangladesh's 144 million people live below the poverty line and poor households spend nearly 70 percent of their income on food items.

Land phones with broadband links by Dec

BUSINESS REPORT

Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Limited (BTCL) will start connecting land phones with broadband internet connections by December, a senior government official has said. Telecommunications secretary Iqbal Mahmood told reporters that internet connections would initially be given to some districts in addition to Dhaka. Mahmood said 26 telephone exchanges were being prepared for the service.

The state-run company will use Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line or ADSL technology that helps landline users to access phone and internet on the same line, a senior BTCL official said. The users will have to install a modem costing up to Tk 5,000 for the service.

The speedy internet connection will be available for BTCL phone users at a competitive price. A BTCL official preferring anonymity said users of Dhaka, Chittagong, Sylhet, Khulna, Rajshahi, Bogra and some other districts would get broadband internet connection initially. He said the BTCL would charge less than private companies for the service.

Digital phone users can use dial-up internet without any connection fee. It charges Tk 0.10 per minute in off-peak hours and Tk 0.15 during peak hours or Tk 6 and Tk 9 per hour respectively.

BTCL provides digital data network service in 71 areas in 41 districts. Internet service providers have over 10 lakh subscribers and BTCL has about 30,000 internet users. Mobile phone and PSTN operators have approximately 50 lakh internet users.

The government is going to allow 170 more private firms to provide internet connections.

Singapore finds melamine in 3 more Chinese foods

AP, Singapore

Singapore found traces of a toxic chemical in three more Chinese-made food products, including milk powder and Cadbury-brand candies, authorities said Thursday. Singapore's Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority, known as AVA, said samples of blueberry and chocolate-flavored Cadbury Choclairs and Panda Dairy-brand Whole Milk Powder imported from China were contaminated with melamine, an industrial chemical that can cause kidney stones and lead to kidney failure.

"We would like to assure the public that the levels of melamine detected in the affected products are low and hence unlikely to result in any adverse health effect," AVA said in a statement. "AVA will continue to suspend the import and sale of milk and milk products from China until we are very sure that such products are safe for consumption," it said.

AVA has banned Chinese-made milk or food containing milk as an ingredient since Sept. 19.

Singapore has now detected melamine in 13 Chinese food items and has sought to destroy all of the contaminated products.

China's tainted milk scandal has so far been blamed for the deaths of four babies and the sickening of about 54,000 children in China.

India`s economy, banking system sound: Subbarao

Reuters, Washington

The Indian economy and banking system are sound, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) chief assured the world financial community on Friday, as a global credit crunch intensified and world stock markets tumbled.

"What we are witnessing today in the Indian markets is an indirect, knock-on effect of the global financial situation," RBI Governor Duvvuri Subbarao told a news conference. "We are monitoring the situation on a continuous basis and stand ready to take appropriate effective and swift action."

He said managing inflation, while maintaining growth momentum and financial stability were the immediate short-term priorities of the Indian central bank.

He also said India's foreign exchange and money markets were functioning in an orderly fashion, and the rupee's value should be determined by supply and demand factors in the market.

Subbarao said Western economies had consulted India on the economic crisis, but he welcomed additional information from them "so we are in the loop."

Asked what specific actions he would like to see from a meeting of Group of Seven industrial economies later on Friday, Subbarao said:

"I think it will be useful if advanced countries let us know, and let the world know, what their sense is of the extent and depth of the crisis, and give us details of how the t rescue packages will be implemented."

He also welcomed G7 assurances that they will respond flexibly and swiftly should they encounter problems with the implementation of their rescue packages. He did not elaborate.

He said it was appropriate that weekend International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings in Washington were occurring "when the global crisis is probably at its peak."

Farmers produce 7.5 lakh mts vegetables in Khulna division

UNB, Narail

Farmers of the 10 districts of Khulna division have produced 7.5 lakh mts of vegetables from 60,683 hectares of land during the current season.

According to the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE), farmers brought 11,829 hectares of land under vegetable cultivation in Jessore, 9,767 hectares in Jhenidah, 2,865 hectares in Magura, 1,270 hecatres in Narail, 3,635 hectares in Khulna, 2,728 hectares in Bagerhat, 6,920 hectares in Satkhira, 5,978 hectares in Kushtia, 9,505 hectares in Chuadanga and 6,195 hectares in Meherpur district.

The cultivated vegetables include brinjal, green banana, gourd,

pumpkin, snake-gourd, patal, ladies finger, kakrol, turnip, arum, cabbage, tomato, cucumber, bean and potato.

DAE officials said they ensured supply of quality seeds, fertilizer, pesticides and other necessary inputs among the farmers at fair prices to make the cultivation scheme a success.

Qatar Airways adjudged best airline in Middle East

BUSINESS REPORT

Qatar Airways has won two more international awards, confirming its leading position as one of the top 10 airlines in the world, and also as the best carrier in the Middle East region.

Results from the latest Skytrax World Airline Awards have positioned Qatar Airways as the best airline in the Middle East for the third consecutive year, heading off strong competition in a region experiencing massive growth in its aviation sector.

This year's results continue to recognise the airline's ambitious efforts to provide passengers with the best onboard service in the global aviation industry, according to Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker.

Qatar Airways has been holding the coveted Five Star Skytrax Award for customer product and service excellence since 2004 when the airline became only the third carrier to be awarded the status.

"We place an emphasis on providing the best quality product and service for our passengers, and our customers' recognition to Qatar Airways' efforts through these awards is very satisfying", according to the CEO.

Iran calls for oil market stability as prices slide

Reuters, Tehran

Iran's oil minister called for market stability on Saturday, a day after crude prices dropped more than 10 percent, and said the "current critical problem" was related to demand.

Oil Minister Gholamhossein Nozari was asked what action he believed the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) should take at an emergency meeting scheduled for Nov. 18 in Vienna and whether a cut in output would restore stability.

Oil prices touched 13-month lows on Friday in a global flight from risk amid concerns of a worldwide recession and further signs of slumping energy demand. "Studies indicate that the current critical problem has to do with demand in the market," Nozari told reporters on the sidelines of an oil conference in Tehran. "We should be after market stability, meaning that the stability of the market is important both for the producer and the consumer," Nozari said.

On Friday, U.S. crude plunged $8.89 to settle at $77.70 a barrel, the lowest levels since Sept. 10, 2007, and down 17 percent from last Friday's settlement. London Brent crude settled down $8.57 at $74.09 a barrel.

Slumping demand in the United States and other developed economies has sent oil prices off their peak above $147 a barrel in July, after surging consumption in emerging markets such as China sent commodities on a six-year rally.

The price fall has caused some OPEC members to call for a cut in production levels, and the cartel will discuss the impact of the global financial crisis on the oil market at their meeting next month in the Austrian capital.

"The principal problem now is the global economic situation and it seems fundamental thought should be put in that direction to find a solution," Nozari said.

Iran, the world's fourth-largest oil producer, is seen as a price hawk within OPEC.